Monthly Archives: June 2012

In 1956 Noel Coward, a 56-year-old tax-exile living in Jamaica, wrote Volcano. It was never performed during his lifetime; and if you see this touring production, you will understand why. Rashly billed in the poster as a newly discovered gem, … Continue reading →

The play is called Antigone, but the leading role is Creon. Sophocles’ great tragedy, first performed in c441 BC, is a debate between two obdurates who won’t back down, with disastrous effects for themselves and their immediate family. Creon decrees … Continue reading →

Shakespeare’s convoluted, improbable and highly artificial romance, set in Ancient Britain, has never been popular with modern theatregoers. Bernard Shaw thought it was “stagey trash of the lowest melodramatic order” and dismissed it as “vulgar, foolish and exasperating beyond all … Continue reading →

The suit was left behind when a lover fled in his underwear. Can Themba’s short South African fable, set in the 1950’s, tells of a husband’s disturbing reaction to his wife’s infidelity. He humiliates her, forcing her to treat the … Continue reading →

The musical is based on E.L.Doctorow’s sprawling novel, covering the years 1895-1915 and following the lives of three interlocking families: rich Protestant whites, poor Jewish immigrants, and down-trodden blacks. Last year there was a wonderful production at the Landor (a … Continue reading →

What with the Queen’s Jubilee and the Olympics, patriotism is running high; and what could be more British and flag-waving than a stage adaptation of Hugh Hudson’s 1981 film about the 1924 Paris Olympic Games? It has been given a … Continue reading →

I doubt very much if the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Lord Mayor of London will be rushing to see Laura Wade’s satire on the Bullingdon Club and the utterly vile aristocratic undergraduates, who meet twice … Continue reading →

Matthew Bourne is celebrating his own Jubilee with the revival of a trilogy of early works which launched his career 25 years ago. The ballets include the sort of frivolous dance sketches that would have been found in revues in … Continue reading →